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Heroes of Coastal Command, The RAF’s Maritime War 1939-1945

The RAF record in maritime warfare is mixed but its crews served with distinction, courage and determination, making an important contribution to survival and ultimate victory. The politicians decided in 1918 to summarily dispense with the RFC and the RNAS, drafting their personnel into the new RAF which was given a monopoly of military aircraft ownership with some disastrous consequences – Highly Recommended.

IMAGE: B3025.jpgBUYNOW: tinyurl.com/y3qp2u96LINKS: DESCRIPTION: The RAF record in maritime warfare is mixed but its crews served
with distinction, courage and determination, making an important contribution to
survival and ultimate victory. The politicians decided in 1918 to summarily
dispense with the RFC and the RNAS, drafting their personnel into the new
RAF which was given a monopoly of military aircraft ownership with some
disastrous consequences – Highly Recommended.The birth of the RAF in 1918 had one immediate effect in that it ended the Royal
Navy plans to launch a concentrated air attack from a carrier task force against the
German High Seas Fleet in its ports. In the longer term it had an almost catastrophic
effect on British military aviation. It delayed the development of advanced aircraft
and concentrated on strategic bombing, with home defence interceptors and little else.
The Royal Navy battled on and was rewarded in 1938 when it secured control of
naval aviation once more and started a program of expansion and upgrading with a
number of monoplane specifications circulated and upgrades to its aircraft carriers
and carrier building program. Unfortunately, the RAF had been allowed to set up
Coastal Command in 1936 and managed to retain control of flying boats and long
range maritime patrol aircraft.There will always be controversy about the relative merits of who controlled what
maritime aviation assets and responsibilities with the RAF was so heavily focused
on strategic bombing that it almost dropped the ball on fighter development and made
its Coastal Command a Cinderella organization depending on hand-me-downs from
Bomber Command. That in itself was a major weakness that cost many lives at sea,
but it was initially compounded by a lack of co-operation at senior level with the RN
that increased losses of shipping and people. Against that, the flying personnel of
Coastal Command performed beyond all reasonable expectations and their courage
and skill went a long way to covering up defects in political management and senior
command.Initially they had to depend largely on poorly suited aircraft. Obsolete and obsolescent
bombers did offer range and did have a capacity to carry bombs and aiming
equipment, but they were in most other respects very unsuited to the type of long
range patrol that Britain needed to protect warships and merchant convoys. It almost
cost Britain the war. With the exception of the Short Sunderland flying boat, which
was a brilliant conversion of a civil airliner and so effective that its defensive
reputation saw the crew of one unarmed Sunderland driving off German fighters with
a single Tommy gun, the aircraft as initial war time maritime patrol resources were
sadly lacking.The situation took time to improve and it was not until mid-war that enough
production, and supplies of US aircraft, allowed the Coastal Command to receive the
kit they desperately needed. Once adequately equipped, they were able to develop
air superiority in protection of convoys and warships, taking the war to the enemy
with considerable success. Co-operation with the RN had also developed and its initial
lack was more to do with Service separation and lack of training together before the
war. By mid war there was mutual respect and understanding between Coastal
Command, the Royal Navy and its Fleet Air Arm. The level of co-operation and skills
were rewarded with great success.Coastal command was to receive B-24 Liberator bombers that were produced by a
company with strong experience of building flying boats, which might explain the
depth of the fuselage. The B-24 had very good range and was ideal, as was the PBY
Catalina in its flying boat and amphibian forms. The Beaufighter and Mosquito
proved a further enhancement of Coastal Command capabilities, the Mosquito
including a version with the 57mm Mollins guns that was quickly replaced by
Mosquitoes with under wing rockets for attacking surface submarines and surface
warships. With bomber production more than keeping up with the heavy losses of
Bomber Command, Coastal Command began receiving Lancasters and Boeing B-17s
with excellent range and bomb bays that could be modified to carry air-dropped
lifeboats for survivors far out into the Atlantic. There were also several modified
aircraft, including the Lockheed Hudson which was a modified passenger aircraft and
noted in Coastal Command service for forcing a U-Boat to the surface and then
accepting its surrender.The author has combined careful research and explanation of equipment and tactics
with first hand experiences of those who flew for Coastal Command with such
distinction.